Diamonds
by reviewgirl911
Summary: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Summary: Lorelei Lee had always loved diamonds. Pre-movie


**Hey! So, I know there's stories I need to update (when isn't there?), but I wanted to take a break and write this instead. I'm a little bored with some of my stories, and one-shots are a great way to get my brain working again. Last night, I was watching clips from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and I started to think about Lorelei Lee and just where she came from. Marliyn Monroe truly did play the perfect ditz, but I liked that Lorelei could be smart when it mattered. Mixing in a little of what I know about Marilyn Monroe, I came up with this one-shot. Enjoy! **

**Summary: Lorelei Lee always loved diamonds. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but I think it's a kick-ass movie!**

* * *

When Lorelei was a little girl growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, her mother had a beautiful pair of diamond earrings. Her father had given them to her mother the day she was born. They were simple studs, but Lorelei thought they were the most wonderful things she had ever seen. "One day, you'll have plenty of boys clamoring to buy you diamonds," her father would tease with a wink.

Of course, her mother only ever wore them to church. Lorelei decided that if she had diamonds one day she'd wear them anywhere and everywhere. Her family wasn't wealthy at all. Her father worked in a factory and free-lance construction while her mother took care of her. The Lees had tried to have other children, but Lorelei had been their only one. Both her parents doted on her, and it was very easy to get what she wanted.

Life was good for the Lees until there was an accident one day at one of her father's construction sights. Somehow, one of the beams fell and hit him. Lorelei's father died on impact. She remembered a policeman knocking on her door. She answered it, pigtails tied with blue ribbon. He asked for her mother. The year was 1936, and Lorelei Lee was ten years old.

After her father died, the family lost everything. Her mother and her were forced to move in with her Nana, an old stiff but loving woman who lived a town over. Everything they had was sold to cover their debts. Everything, that is, except her mother's diamond earrings.

"Keep these safe for me," her mother had pleaded, slipping them into a tiny little pouch and pressing them into Lorelei's hand the day their things were to be auctioned off. Lorelei had only nodded and slipped the little pouch into her jacket pocket.

Lorelei's mom didn't live much longer. After they moved in with Nana, Mrs. Lee took a job as a seamstress to make ends meet. The long hard work (by candlelight since they couldn't afford electricity) proved too much for her. Lorelei's mom died a year after her father. Lorelei kept her mother's diamond earrings in the same little pouch. She didn't feel like she had the right to wear these diamonds. She was supposed to keep them safe.

* * *

From then on, it was just Lorelei and her Nana. Nana was a wonderful woman, sweet and kind yet brash at the same time, but Lorelei still found herself getting lonely. As she got older, she started to fill the void with boys. Boys loved Lorelei. She was pretty, with blonde hair and a slim figure, and charming, always able to keep up with the boys. She kissed many and did a little more with some, but not too much. Boys were like diamonds, just one more thing she wanted to collect. That is, until she met Johnny Grant.

Johnny Grant was tall, good-looking, and popular. He was on the football team, not super important, but still there. He was smart too, getting straight As opposed to Lorelei's Cs. Lorelei wasn't dumb by any means, but she didn't see the point in school. The boys on the team all called him Mr. President as a joke. Johnny never minded a good joke unless it offended someone, particularly a lady.

They met at a party her friend Lucille was throwing. Technically, Lorelei wasn't allowed to be there, but she had snuck out after Nana went to bed. She knew of Johnny but had never actually talked to him before. He was enraptured with her from the first moment he saw her, or so he would later tell her. When a slow song came on, he asked her to dance. It was a wonderful dance, slow and soft, just like she'd seen in movies. Lorelei didn't know why, but she knew this boy was different. Later on, her offered to drive her home. She accepted happily and waited the entire drive for him to lean over and kiss her like all the other boys had. He never did. When she got out of the car, he simply said, "Thank you for the dance."

The next day, Lorelei tracked him down at school. "Why didn't you kiss me?" she demanded to know, her hands on her hips.

Johnny just frowned at her, "I would've kissed you if you were any other girl, but you're not. You're special, Lorelei," he replied.

From that moment Lorelei was in love. Johnny was good to her. He was sturdy and reliable, a rock in her inconstant life. They took trips in his old beat up car and made out of the movies. Johnny, two years older than her, took her to prom. She wore a beautiful pink dress Johnny's older sister lent her. They danced and mingled, and it just felt right. Lorelei was happy. Johnny, not able to afford college, started working at his uncle's store while Lorelei started her junior year.

When Lorelei was seventeen, her Nana had a stroke and died. She was worried about being sent to an orphanage. One night, she had told Johnny about her fear laying on a blanket in her backyard, looking up at the sky. He just smiled and said, "I think I have a solution."

"Hmm?" she murmured, not taking her eyes off the stars.

"Marry me?" he whispered.

Lorelei shot up, her eyes wide. "What?" she asked.

Johnny held out a small diamond ring. "Lorelei Lee, will you please marry me?" he asked earnestly. Lorelei, not able to say anything, only nodded furiously. Johnny smiled and kissed her, slipping the ring on her finger.

It was a small diamond, but just the kind of ring she wanted. It was perfect simply because of the man who had given it to her. Lorelei and Johnny got married on a nice spring day in a tiny little church. His family and a few of her friends were present. She wore a simple white dress with her mother's diamond earrings and her wedding ring while Johnny wore a black suit borrowed from his father. After their wedding, Lorelei and Johnny took a trip to California. They spent three days in Los Angles, touring the city and enjoying their martial pleasures.

Lorelei and Johnny lived happily together for five years. Johnny continued working out his uncle's store, taking over when the old man got too sick. Lorelei spent her mornings with at Johnny's house, chatting with his mother and helping around the house. She spent her afternoons cleaning her house and running around. She and Johnny spent the evenings together. It was a nice simple life.

Three years into the marriage, Lorelei found out she was pregnant. She was nervous but excited, and Johnny was thrilled. He doted on her more than he ever had, and Lorelei found herself wanting to sing and dance with joy. Of course, this ended one night when Lorelei felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. Though the details of that particular night are still fuzzy to this day, she can still remember screaming and Johnny picking her up in his strong arms. The next thing she knew, she woke up in a hospital bed. She looked up and saw Johnny sitting by her beside. He gave her a sad smile, and Lorelei just knew.

The next few months were hard. Sometimes, during the day, Lorelei just sat down and burst into tears. There were a couple of fights, ones that made Lorelei want to tear her hair out and cause Johnny to storm out and go to the bar. Usually, however, the fight ended with Johnny coming home and kissing Lorelei, who'd be sitting on the couch reading a magazine, on the forehead. She would follow him to bed, and the rest was forgotten.

Things got better evidently, and two good years passed by. Soon it was their fifth wedding anniversary. They celebrated with a small party at Johnny's parent's house. Lorelei got him tickets to a Razorbacks' game while he bought her a simple diamond-drop necklace.

Three weeks later, Johnny died in a car crash on the way to work. The first place Lorelei got to wear her diamond necklace to was her husband's funeral. Not that she even remembered putting in. That whole week was a haze, the only real memory she had was wanting to scream. Two weeks later, she packed her bags and bought a ticket to New York City, bringing only some clothes and her diamonds.

* * *

It didn't take Lorelei long to find a job in the city. One night, she found a sign outside a lounge needing singers. Lorelei had always loved to sing. Her father had always delighted in seeing her sing and dance while her mother would just smile and shake her head. Johnny always called her his little songbird. Lorelei forced these memories to the back of her mind and walked in, acquiring about the job. The man leered at her.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" he asked drunkenly.

"Lorelei Lee," she stated more confident than she felt. Her last name, the name she hadn't used in five years, felt weird rolling off her tongue.

An hour later, she had a job and a new purpose. Lorelei had decided she would have heaps and heaps of diamonds one day, and then she would never be sad again. Or at least, she hoped she would never be sad again. After all, who could be sad when they had diamonds?

* * *

Lorelei was working at the lounge six months when Dorothy was hired. The tall brunette was different from the other girls who had come and go. She was beautiful to be sure, but she was also witty and brash. Kind of like Nana, Lorelei thought to herself one day. Yes, Nana would've loved Dorothy.

The two girls weren't instant friends. Dorothy had thought her a regular ditz and a slutty one at that. Lorelei couldn't argue with that. She played the part of a ditz well, or at least well enough to attract men like flies. Lorelei did get lonely, and she liked having a man in her bed.

Then, one day, Lorelei got a letter from her former mother-in-law. In the envelope was a picture of her and Johnny in front of their little house right after they bought it. Lorelei promptly burst into tears.

Dorothy, who was getting ready next to her, asked her what was wrong. Lorelei just shook her head and kept on crying. The brunette pulled her chair closer and coaxed the story out of her. After Lorelei finished her sad tale, Dorothy declared they were going out for drinks that night. They did, and by the end of the evening, the two women were friends. Dorothy wasn't interested in diamonds or money, but that was okay with Lorelei. Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but Dorothy was Lorelei's.

* * *

Lorelei's life was a hazy of men. There were so many, but she was always looking for someone better. Dorothy often said jokingly that Lorelei collected both diamonds and men, and Lorelei would respond that she was more interested in the diamonds than men. Most men were simply an end to the means for her.

And then Mr. Esmond came along. Mr. Esmond wasn't very handsome, but Lorelei didn't mind much. He was kind and rich and completely adored her. Most of all, he was steady, and it had been too long since she had had something steady. . Mr. Esmond wasn't Johnny, didn't make her swoon, but that was okay. That love hurt too much, and Lorelei just wanted comfort and company and someone to take care of her the way she wanted. Mr. Esmond could do that. Plus, it didn't hurt that he bought her diamonds.

* * *

Lorelei Lee had always loved diamonds. She loved the studs glittering in her mother's ears at church, the shine of Johnny's ring on her finger while she cleaned the house, the sparkle of various pieces of jewelry she had received from various men, and all the wonderful things Mr. Esmond had bought her. Yes, Lorelei Lee had always loved diamonds, but maybe, just maybe, she loved people better.


End file.
